Kyle Kimbrell

Harper Elizabeth Kimbrell. Sarah Anne Scott. University of Mobile. Journalist.

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people… . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

—James Madison (via politicalprof)

It may get me crucified.

I may even die.

But I want it said even if I die in the struggle that

‘He died to make men free’

—MLK, 1962

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

life: April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King is assassinated. On April 4, 1968, LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky and writer Mike Silva, on assignment in Alabama, learned that Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The two men jumped into their car, raced the 200 miles to the scene of the crime, and there — to their astonishment — found that they had unfettered access to the hotel’s grounds; to the abandoned buildings from which the rifle shot likely came; to Dr. King’s room; and to the bleak, blood-stained balcony where the civil rights leader had fallen, mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet, mere hours earlier. Unpublished: Outside of room 306, Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the motel’s owner, sweeps blood from the balcony. See more photos here. (Henry Groskinsky—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

life:

April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King is assassinated.

On April 4, 1968, LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky and writer Mike Silva, on assignment in Alabama, learned that Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The two men jumped into their car, raced the 200 miles to the scene of the crime, and there — to their astonishment — found that they had unfettered access to the hotel’s grounds; to the abandoned buildings from which the rifle shot likely came; to Dr. King’s room; and to the bleak, blood-stained balcony where the civil rights leader had fallen, mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet, mere hours earlier.

Unpublished: Outside of room 306, Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the motel’s owner, sweeps blood from the balcony.

See more photos here.

(Henry Groskinsky—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)